A flock of sparrows turned up at our pond a couple weeks ago and have been having the best time ever. In spite of their bad reputation, they don't seem to be bothering the other birds, even the pair of cardinals, who barely tolerate us humans.
As soon as anyone takes a step out of the patio they all fly away, so all these photos were taken through a screen, with various degrees of success.
The sparrows were enjoying themselves so much they were falling into the pond and had to be rescued. Burt and Kib decided the pile of rocks that made up their "island" needed an upgrade to a larger, more smooth surface.
This was also a good excuse to check out the Halloween stuff at Target. His Madness, wondered if he might look good in this full body skeleton costume. Others thought not.
However, everyone agreed that this unbelievably, seasonably appropriate, marble pumpkin was the perfect addition to Sparrow Island.
Burt volunteered to hang around to make sure it stopped the birds from falling in.
Which it did.
Meanwhile, in another part of the backyard, the real pumpkins were having problems of their own.
There's no shortage of culprits. Something, either chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, possums or probably all of them at one time or another, have been sampling our future jack-'o'lanterns.
Not to be outdone by Burt and Kibitz, Ivy found a gnome (and her doppelgänger) to bring good luck to the pumpkins or, more likely, scare the guilty parties away. Whatever works, it's another garden problem solved. Let's hope it will it be as effective a solution as the marble pumpkin.
Hope everyone had a good weekend.
Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!
